Cardinals, Fuentes Close To Deal

Left-handed reliever Brian Fuentes is likely to join the Cardinals, sources told Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. The veteran had interest from six teams following his release from the A's, including the Cards who considered trading for him after he was designated for assignment.

Earlier tonight, Cardinals GM John Mozeliak confirmed that the club reached out to Fuentes' agents at the Beverly Hills Sports Council, writes Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com. Heyman notes that the pairing makes sense as Fuentes hoped to join a winning team once he hit the open market.

Fuentes, 36, struggled in 25 innings for the A's this year, posting a 6.84 ERA with 6.5 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9. For his career, Fuentes owns a 3.58 ERA with 9.4 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9.

i agree, browning has been good, this whole idea of bringing in a veteran just because he’s a vet is stupid, if a rookie is producing, why rock the boat.browning looked good tonight then they took him out and ludwick got a triple, i dont understand?

it cant be any worse than the bullpen we have now….I like the idea of keeping browning up here and sending scrabble back to memphis..let him get some re-tooling down there..I’m not missing Tony at this point, but omg..am I ever missing Dunc!!!

That’s REALLY an upgrade there. Does Mo not realize D. Duncan, is in fact, gone?? Surely, more moves will be made for b.p. help. The last 3-4 days before deadline is what I’m waiting for. One possibility 4 a top of rotation starter, I’m sure “wishing”, I know.

I think it is crazy right now to not heavily pursue Cole Hamels. He is 28, we need a top of the rotation guy while Wainwright continues to get back in his groove, and I think he would have plenty of interest signing long term. Hi wife, a Cardinal honk, is from Buffalo, MO and they are in Springfield most of the offseason, so wifey would approve. Greinke would be nice, just don’t see the Brewers making that deal in the division. The bottom line is, our rotation is lacking which hurts our bullpen and the Cardinals, who saved a lot of money this offseason if you’ll remember, need to make a big splash at the deadline. A Paul Maholm type just isn’t enough. They didn’t make #5 the offer because they wanted to remain competitive for the long run, they need to land a shark here.

Stop signing these wash-ups and look to AAA for help. Thats what we have the minors for. After coming off a world series win lets try to see what our minors bring to the table in the bigs. Let them get a little taste and they will be hungry for more. Lets see what we have and go from there. No sense in signing someone when we have the talent in house. Save the money for signing what we have for years to come. Sometimes MO doesn’t think inside the box sometimes he’s too far away

1. This is a low-risk signing, costs the cards basically nothing. They have always wanted Fuentes and he is a solid back loogy. Big deal. It’s a good deal with little upside. It could help a lot.

2. The cards do not have the money to go after a hamels or grienke level pitcher, and hamels wife being from Missouri doesn’t mean a thing.

You don’t give up top pitching prospects for a two month rental when you are a perennial playoff team. That is insanely stupid unless you are confident you can re-sign the guy. Neither is going to be in st Louis next year. They will be sought after and someone will overpay for their services. Let them.

3. The offensive difference between the AL and the NL even with the DH is minimal. About 4 points in Obp, and about 20 points in slugging percentage, and the pitcher hits. So quick acting like there is this huge difference by changing leagues. The difference is facing guys that you don’t know and that don’t know you. That is it.

4. Fuentes is a former all star who isn’t that old yet. He should be serviceable for the remainder of this year. If he doesn’t pan out he will get released and cost us very very little. At worst, maybe he blows us a game. That is a risk worth taking on someone who was still good just last year and was released after only 25 innings this year. You know who else has had a bad 25 inning stretch this year? Every single pitcher in baseball, including Lynn, garcia, and wainwright. Don’t make snap judgments on such a tiny sample size.

I agree on all your points except the last one. As an A’s fan, I’m glad Fuentes is gone. At the same time, since the A’s are paying him the majority of his earnings this season, it’s a great signing for the Cards for the reasons you mentioned.

I’m not too excited about Fuentes potentially signing with St. Louis but if he is signed to ONLY pitch to left handed hitters, ok whatever. Hopefully this is only one piece to the bullpen and more are on the way because right now Marte, Rzep, & Salas aren’t getting it done.

Those who say the money is there, I wouldn’t let you near handling my finances. The money isn’t there. Hamels and Grienke are bnot payroll friendly fixes. It appears Allen Craig is the Cards future at first, and Freese, of course, at third. Those two you have to sure up long term. Lohse is also a free agent after this year. The way he has pitched this year, you have to reward him, he wants to stay here. A long term deal for Lance Lynn has to be thought about too. An all-star this year, he will be a highly sought after commodity. Trade Matt Adams or another nice prospect and maybe get a Francisco Liriano, who is on the block as well. Perhaps a Wandy Rodriguez, the Astros won’t mind the deal, because after this year, they aren’t in the NL anymore, let alone the division. I wouldn’t expect a big splash this year with a huge starting pitcher (i.e. Hamels or Grienke). Remember Mo made a so-so deal last year, and we won the series!

“Feeling a little run deprived? Not giving up enough home runs? Well you’re in luck order your very own Brian Fuentes! You can be sure he will raise your bullpen’s ERA to astronomical heights! Get one now before supplies run out.”

Well we have Westbrook, Lohse, and Berkman all coming off the book after this season and that is roughly 30million…then after next season we will have Carpenter and Beltran coming off the books…so there is plenty of money available

Yeah they really won’t have a lot of money available.
I think there’s a chance though that Westbrook declines the option, nullifying the buyout. He’ll turn 35 years old at the end of the season and depending on how he finishes this year, he may jump for a chance at a multi-year deal on the open market, even if the AAV is a bit under $8.5M.
I would expect McClellan to be non-tendered due to the concerns surrounding his elbow and shoulder. I just don’t see them paying him the $3M or so he would be due in arbitration. Then they would probably re-sign him for around $1M.
I also expect Mo to attempt to lock up Freese throughout his arb years at least, and maybe even before the season ends.
Also, something I haven’t seen mention of is Jon Jay’s chances of super two status. He’ll finish the year with two years and 134 days service time, the exact minimum for super two status. Not sure if he’ll make the cut or not but they may have to plan for that too.

No chance Holliday leaves St. Louis especially this offseason. He’s still a stud hitter and it would be foolish to deal him. Craig can stay at 1st for the time being and platoon with Beltran if he really needs OF playing time. Adams could be a hot commodity at the deadline, so Craig could very well be 1b of future. Just a thought